Dan John Never Let Go

(20 customer reviews)

In Never Let Go, Coach Dan John breaks down the most complicated concepts of strength training and high-performance athletics in a no-nonsense, yet clever and motivating manner. This is a compilation of Dan’s articles, where you’ll be exposed to an array new ideas and topics to supercharge your training, including workouts, programs, programming tips, recovery methods and more.

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Product Description

Dan John Never Let Go
by Dan John
Introduction by Pavel Tsatsouline
Foreword by Dave Draper

You’ll be…

  • Motivated beyond belief! It’s that simple. Dan’s teaching and his coaching is unique and tremendously educational, but what will touch you the most is how fired up you’ll be at the end of each chapter. Read a section before you head for the gym — your training will be transformed; on those days when you’re dragging, his words will make the difference between a victory at the gym and a trip to the couch!

After listening to Dan John Articles or reading his work, I envy his athletes not only for the good fortune of receiving his coaching expertise, but also for the lessons that will carry them along through life. Dan is a common man, but an uncommon motivator. ~ Dave Tate, CEO elitefts.com

In Dan John Never Let Go, Coach Dan John breaks down the most complicated concepts of strength training and high-performance athletics in a no-nonsense, yet clever and motivating manner. Workout routines, Olympic lifting guidance, Highland Games, track and field and Strongman events are all covered, in addition to weight training philosophy for the general public.

Audiobook sample, narrated by Steven Oswalt

In Dan John Never Let Go, You’ll learn…

  • How to get stronger, faster and leaner
  • Simple steps to great conditioning
  • What it takes to compete at high-level athletics
  • Dan John’s top training tips
  • Effective workouts to carry you through your training seasons
  • Variations of the classic 5×5 workout
  • Sample kettlebell and barbell workout combinations
  • Outdoor cardiovascular training options for athletes
  • Dan John Workouts
  • And much more…

Dan John’s deceptively simple training plans cover a great many fitness attributes, safely and quickly, and are always a hit with athletes. When it comes to teaching strength, Dan John has no superiors and only a handful of equals. ~ Pavel Tsatsouline, author of Enter the Kettlebell

Coach Dan John is one of the premier instructors in the world of movement, strength and athleticism. His lectures on athletic training have revolutionized the thinking of thousands, and his new text, Never Let Go, will set the standard in safer, smarter, more productive training methods. ~ Dr. Mark Cheng, L.Ac., Ph.D., RKC Team Leader, Contributing Editor – Black Belt Magazine

Never Let Go, published June 2009, contains 416 pages, includes individual 42 articles revised from T-Nation material, and is carefully indexed to make finding workouts and training ideas an easy task.

If mastery takes 10,000 hours, Dan John has mastered the art of teaching and coaching many times over. He renders the complicated simple, and the simple clear. The hours I have spent learning from him changed my life.~ Mark Twight, Gym Jones

Extraordinary power, marvelous skill and masterful technique have been earned through years of training and practice and scrutiny, failure and success. A generous servant, a giver of gifts, his words come alive with experience and fact for the reader, the hungry student, the one bound to learn. Dan doesn’t paint by number and help you pick out the colors. He draws a picture and invites you, encourages you, inspires you, to become a part of it. ~ Dave Draper, author of Brother Iron, Sister Steel

Did you catch at the power behind those endorsements?
Dan’s work in coaching and training others garners the respect of titans in our industry. You can trust them. Let us get this transformative book on the way to you!

 

Chapter List

Contents
Introduction
Foreword
Preface
Free Will and Free Weights
The Rule of Five
The Velocity Diet Experience
The Rest of the Story
The One Lift a Day Program
The Tabata Method—Fat Loss in Four Minutes
A History of Dieting
The Classic Top 10 Tips
Systematic Education for Lifters
5 X 5 Variations
Three Mentors, Lifetime Lessons
Geezer Wisdom
The AIT Formula
Self-Evident Truths
What You Know Versus What You Do
PVC and Presuppositions
The Litvinov Workout
The Gable Method
Strong Eye for the Weak Guy
The Best Exercises
My Secret Coaching Methods
Nautilus, Crossfit and High/High
Blood on the Barbell
A Religious Studies Professor’s Review of HIT
New Associations, New Muscle
Coach Pain’s Slosh Pipe
Lessons from Southwood
Recovery Methods 101
That Guy
Are You Making Progress?
Disdain Medium
The Big Five
Secrets to Long-Term Fitness
One Hard Thing
Principle Lessons
Three Basic Concepts
Goals and Toilet Seats, A Men’s Room Epiphany
Goal-setting for Motivation
The One-dumbbell Workout
The Journey to Excellence
The Philosophy of Physical Capital
Improve Your Fitness Literacy
Afterword
Suggested Reading
About the Author

Excerpts

Systematic Education for Lifters

Who Benefits?

Anyone who enjoys reading about training, workout programs and motivation

20 reviews for Dan John Never Let Go

  1. Walter Dorey

    I keep coming back to this book all the time. It’s great for training ideas, but what keeps me coming back and rereading it is the writing style. It’s like following a journey as a man explores training in the real world. The personal experiences give the book huge impact in my eyes. I’m all about what works in the trenches and Dan John comes from the trenches. He’s been there, done that. I come from a blue-collar background of many physically taxing jobs. I can relate to the experiences, both good and bad, of Dan John’s exploration in the training world blended with the real world outside the gym. Never Let GO is a great read, one I will continue to revisit not only for the ideas it presents, but also for the journey it takes me on.

  2. lifefitclare

    I read a review of Dan’s book by another trainer and it was so amazing I instantly bought the book. my reasoning was that if it was half as good as the review it would be still amazing. As it turns out it was everything the guy said it’d be. i’m on my 3rd book by Dan now and his approach to and knowledge of training is second to none. If strength training or coaching is your thing this book is a must have.

  3. Stuart

    This is the one strength book that I keep coming back to time and again. It’s now become my go to book for ideas when things get boring in the gym. Dan’s style is easily accessible and his ideas very simple and easy to follow. For me, the best of his books (yeah I know it’s actually a collection of articles) but well worth the money.

  4. Jonny Collins

    In the same way that I wished I could have discovered The Smiths when I was a teenager, I wish I had a book like this when I started out training. Simply, this is a book I would recommend to anyone of any age, a beautifully written and informative book which is also full of warmth and humour.

  5. Ele (verified owner)

    Great book! Full of information but at the same time easy to read.

  6. Carl C Johnson

    Still my favorite go to book for simplifying the training of athletes! As a high school strength coach I recommend it for anyone interested in S&C.

  7. Ridge Carpenter

    Really, read this! Gives an excellent perspective of what is and isn’t important in training and in life.

  8. Dennis Fekert

    this is the only book that I have read multiple times, and always come away with another nugget. As a matter of fact, “Something is better than nothing” has practically become my personal motto and has lead to great workouts that might never have been.

  9. Jake Steinmann

    Someone once shared with me the piece advice that you should never trust a man with two first names. Dan John is making me reconsider that particular piece of wisdom. Apparently something of a living legend in certain strength and conditioning circles, I only found him after reading a few posts of his on a random internet forum. I subsequently discovered his website, blog, and articles; I liked what I read, so I bought Never Let Go.

    The book is a collection of articles, some of which were previously published online. Of course, having them in print form has a number of advantages, particularly if you haven’t read them before. I had only read one or two of them, so a lot of the material was new to me.

    There is a lot of good information in here, from specific programs for developing strength, size, or endurance, to more philosophical thoughts on structuring programming, training for the long term, and evaluating the utility (or lack thereof) of certain programs. John’s background as a religious studies teacher gives him some interesting insights into the way people tend to think in regard to their strength and conditioning programs. He also has been around the block more than a few times (someone apparently made a joke about Dan John having coached Milo while he was lifting the bull), and isn’t afraid to acknowledge his failures along with his successes.

    Indeed, one of the things I appreciate most about this book is that Dan John has used himself as a bit of a human guinea pig, and is willing to talk about his experiences doing so, both good and bad. I’m sure that his willingness to point out the flaws in various training programs hasn’t made him a lot of friends, but I appreciate his candor and forthrightness.

    Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Dan John is just fun to read. One of the great difficulties in trying to learn more about strength and conditioning is that sometimes even the good information is presented badly. Dan John’s writing is clear, but it’s also engaging, and at times, insanely humorous. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so much reading a strength and conditioning book (or rather, I’ve never laughed so much WITH the author, rather than AT him). Hell, even my wife found some of the parts I read aloud funny.

    This book is accessible to anyone, though it’s worth noting that you can’t follow every program in this book at once. Well, you could try, but you’ll probably die. This is the kind of book you read, enjoy, and then go back and cherry-pick ideas from. Right now I’m playing with the “one lift a day” idea, though I’m not doing it exactly as outlined in the book, because of time and strength factors. There’s a lot of other stuff I’d like to play with in here too; I’m sure I’ll get to it sooner or later.

    If you must trust a man with two first names, Dan John seems like a good place to start.

  10. frank michel

    To me Dan John’s writing, insights, and instruction stand out vividly in a crowded industry. When I started reading Dan’s books, which began with Never Let Go, I hoped to gain some real world insights on training, health, and fitness.

    What it contained was all that and more. Beyond fitness, Never Let Go, and the others, are actually tremendous insights on life and even business. Deliberately or not, Dan has given valuable insight for entrepreneurs about planning, execution, course adjustments, etc. I regularly use the insights and quotes with clients and groups. Of course, as Dan would say, some are “so good I stopped doing them…”

  11. Jake Shell

    Where to start when talking about this book? Probably by talking about Dan John himself. I came to Coach John’s work through the T-Nation website and instantly took to both his writing style and the typical content of said writing. I read for knowledge but also for entertainment and inspiration – Dan’s writing provides all of this and then some. You want stories that illustrate and contextualize the points he’s making? They’re here. You want simple but not easy training that is proven to deliver results, stave off boredom and produce athletes? Got those too. You want rambling articles that you can visit again and again and see new angles and insights and continue to derive motivation from? It’s all here.

    I was in my thirties when I started reading Dan’s work, I’m now deep in to my forties and he speaks to me and my goals more than ever. This was the first book/work of Dan’s that I bought, I’ve purchased each subsequent publication and look forward to Dan’s future output.

  12. Andrew

    My favourite of Dan’s work I have read.

    Full of useful tips & set up so you can just dip in & out or read cover to cover if you wish.

  13. Rob Harris

    Simplistic, yet educational. Informal, yet authoritative. Buy a copy, you won’t be disappointed!

  14. Dan Fosselman

    Never Let Go is the foundation of Dan John’s writing. This work is a summation and simplification of concepts that Mr. John has picked up throughout his teaching and training years. Will help lifters, athletes, and people who are looking to better themselves physically and spiritually.

  15. Tom Barrett

    Fantastic book, tons of great stories and lessons on life and lifting. I pick up new information every time I read it.

  16. Andrew Eckhold

    As someone who does martial arts and is well into middle age, I have found this book invaluable. I have never had a strength or conditioning coach apart from the martial arts sensei, of course. To be able to develop what little natural ability I have is very important as I age. Athleticisim and strength have proven to be the key for my body and the approach of Dan John in this book has changed my life.

  17. Bart Groninger

    Outstanding. This is an excellent collection of lessons dressed as stories. Every chapter is dense with actionable information.
    This book is the cornerstone of Dan John’s work. It is an excellent starting point to becoming one of Dan’s minions. This book will make a great gift for anyone serious about being an athlete, coach, fitness pursuer or Adult. From teenager to teen ager at heart.

  18. Tom Fitzgerald

    Clear, concise and motivational. Got me moving…in the right direction… after too long of a layoff.

  19. Bob Gallagher

    An outstanding book.
    As a “ahem” middle-aged lifter, I had only ever really been exposed to the traditional body building type weight lifting programs. I was looking for something different, and Dave Draper’s website led me to Dan John. This book opened my eyes to new possibilities in regards to strength training. There are a variety of suggestions, programs, challenges and wisdom contained within the pages. The presentation is well done, told in a rather conversational style, Dan John turns the motivation knob to 11 without ever seeming like he is trying to motivate.
    It just happens.
    The only bad thing I have to say about it is that it wasn’t written 20 years ago so that a younger version of me could have found it.
    Fortunately, I have discovered it, and I hope many other lifters will as well.
    This book is worth every penny.

  20. John Yokemick

    This book is a very enjoyable read full of valuable information. Dan shares a lifetime of knowledge in an easy to read manner. This book should be on every lifter’s bookshelf

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Product FAQ

The print book is 6×9, paperback, 413 Pages, ISBN 978-1931046381.

The ebook edition includes the PDF, Kindle and epub files.

The audiobook was recorded by narrator Steven Oswalt and is 10 hours, 44 minutes in duration.

Delivery

The print book will ship from the warehouse in Kansas on the business day following your order.

The ebook and audiobooks are delivered instantly via download from a digital dashboard here on OTPbooks.com as soon as your order is placed.

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